‘Flavours as vivid as the scent of pine forests’: why I love Baltic cuisine

A bellhop opened the door to the Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo, and I was transported out of Panama City's humidity and into a chilly hotel lobby brimming with excitement.

Roughly halfway between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the coastal town of Paraty (population 45,000) isn’t the easiest place to reach. It requires a four-hour, mostly mountainous drive from either city, a 45-minute helicopter charter or arrival by sea. It’s that relative seclusion that keeps the tourist hordes and unbridled development at bay, despite the town’s obvious appeal. Set on Brazil’s Costa Verde, with mountains covered in rainforest on one side and the emerald green waters of Ilha Grande Bay on the other, Paraty (pronounced para-CHEE by locals), preserves more than 30 blocks as its historic quarter, a grid of pedestrian-only cobblestone streets lined with whitewashed 18th- and 19th-century facades, many of them remnants of the Portuguese colonial era.

In-flight turbulence is nothing new, but those who believe it’s on the rise got fresh evidence recently, with two cases of severe turbulence occurring in short succession.

For too many years, the lesbian bar suffered from a tragic narrative: It was disappearing. The once-ubiquitous venue found in almost every city and small town was no longer as necessary as it used to be, for some reasons good—a new level of acceptance, and anti-discrimination laws—and the less sunny, like the immense cost of operating a small business in America. The lesbian bar was so close to extinction in the US that The Lesbian Bar Project emerged in 2020 to help protect the remaining 20 or so spaces trying to survive a pandemic, through fundraising and awareness.

This is part of a collection of stories celebrating lesbian bars across the US and other parts of the world. Read more here.

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa appoints Mario Maesano as Vice President of Marketing, to drive the overall development and implementation of tactical marketing initiatives across the property.

airBaltic enhances its onboard menu for the summer season with over 45% of offerings sourced from Latvia, featuring local snacks, drinks, and meals, including new additions like Rocket Bean coffee.

Lufthansa introduces direct flights from Frankfurt to Rovaniemi, enhancing its Finnish route network and offering access to Lapland’s winter attractions.

George Hartman has been appointed Director of Lodging Operations at The Sea Pines Resort, overseeing various accommodations and leveraging extensive hospitality experience.

As far as sweet airport amenities go, Indiana's Fort Wayne International Airport (FWA) has others beat. For about 25 years now, volunteers have been welcoming passengers to Indiana with big smiles and free, fresh-baked cookies.

To obtain a visa for Türkiye, digital nomads can easily initiate their application process from the Digital Nomad Pre-Application platform Digital Nomad GoTürkiye. After completing the requirements on this platform, which is just the first step of the process, digital nomads will receive a “Digital Nomad Identification Certificate”. With the certificate they receive from the platform, digital nomads need to continue their process at the Turkish consulates and/or visa centres.

The magic of Italy is in the almost accidental way that experiences find you, especially if you pay a little bit of attention and are willing to draw outside of the lines. You might wander down an alley on a whim, order a dish you’ve never heard of based on a knowing wink from a waiter, or witness a slice of daily life that seems like a perfectly choreographed scene from a film.